Poetry blog

We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.

Recent posts

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Poems

 

A poet ought not to pick nature’s pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge No mere pickpocket, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poetry often melded recollection and imagination into verse that both borrowed from nature ...

Lewis Carroll Poems

 

The whimsical world of Lewis Carroll may be best known through his novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, but his poetry is infused with the same clever word play and imagination for which his novels are regarded. Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1832 in the parsonage of Daresbury in Cheshire, England. The third of ...

Robert Browning Poems

 

Poet Robert Browning, like his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, achieved fame close to notoriety in the Victorian era, due in part to his accomplished poetry, and in some measure to the romantic tale of his and Elizabeth Barrett Browning"s marriage and life. Robert Browning was born near London, England, in 1812 to Robert and Sarah Anna Browning. Browning"s unusual family no ...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poems

 

The epitome of the Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning is one of few poets whose work was not only widely appreciated during her lifetime, but whose verses have also entered the language of popular culture in such a way that her poems seem to have lives of their own. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's life reads like the kind of mid-1930s Hollywood melodrama that ...

Emily Brontë Poems

 

Although she is better known for her novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (1818-1848) also managed in her short lifetime to write many accomplished poems which display the same mystical ingenuity that her only published novel has become famous for. Born in Yorkshire, in the north of England, Emily Brontë was the daughter of a reverend and writer who instilled in Emily and ...

William Blake Poems

 

By turns whimsical and apocalyptic, brilliant and yet somehow simple, British poet William Blake (1757-1827) expanded the boundaries of poetry both with language and visuals to create a body of work that has become among the most beloved in the English language. Known more for his visual arts than his poetry in his lifetime, Blake's poetry was often illustrated by his own ...

Elizabeth Bishop Poems

 

The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. ~ Elizabeth Bishop Esso cans. Cats named Minnow. Fish houses. All the detritus of everyday life, scenes and items and even people destined for obsolescence - these are are subjects that Elizabeth Bishop captured ...

Charles Baudelaire Poems

 

Always be a poet, even in prose. ~ Charles Baudelaire As controversial and heralded today as he was in the 19th Century, poet Charles Baudelaire's influence over poets, writers, and even musicians is a testament both to his talent and the cult of personality that has grown as much out of his lifestyle as is poetry. Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris in 1821. He began his career as a writer in ...

W.H. Auden Poems

 

Poet Wystan Hugh Auden, better known as W.H. Auden, imbued his poetry with a style and sensibility that elevated him to the status of one of the 20th century's best-known and most-respected poets. Auden's poems deal with universal themes such as love, political and social concerns, religion and personal morals, often set against the backdrop of man's relation to the natural ...

Rhyming Poems

 

"Roses are Red, Violets are Blue - Sugar is Sweet..." Can you finish the poem above? Of course you can! The old "roses are red" rhyme is among the best known rhyming poems ever composed. Why is this poem so memorable? Well, it's short - and sweet. It's been repeated in books, movies, and television programs more times than ...